About

Li Mei-shu, Lady Resting in the Garden

Welcome to Mother Tongue Manifesto

Mother Tongue Manifesto is an innovative project, working with short story writers in Taiwanese (Tâi-gí) and Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig), and translating between the two languages. The project is produced by the Scottish social enterprise Wind&Bones.

Wind&Bones is co-directed by writers Dr. Hannah Stevens and Dr. Will Buckingham. Hannah and Will divide their time between Scotland and Taiwan.

This project is funded by a grant from the Scottish Government’s Scottish Connections fund.

Why Translate?

We believe in the creative potential of nations that are built on linguistic and cultural diversity. Both Taiwanese and Gaelic have been historically marginalised, and Taiwan and Scotland share many parallel experiences of language suppression and revival. As writers based between Scotland and Taiwan, at Wind&Bones we are excited to explore these parallels.

Who are Our Writers?

We have amassed an extraordinary group of writers. From Taiwan, we have Naomi Sím and Kiú-kiong. And from Scotland we have Lisa MacDonald and Elissa Hunter-Dorans.

Our writers are also translators, working to translate each other’s work. By the end of the project, each writer will have either translated or will have been translated by every other writer! In this way, we aim to build a strong collective sense of identity for the project.

What Do We Aim to Do?

We aim to highlight linguistic diversity of both Scotland and Taiwan by exploring translation both from and into minoritised languages. In this way, we want to contribute to expanding the growing canon of literature in both languages.

What are the Project Outcomes?

1. Online Publication

The stories we commission will be published in four languages on this website:

  • Gàidhlig
  • Tâi-gí
  • Mandarin
  • English

2. A New Anthology

We will publish the stories from this project in a new multi-lingual anthology, in book form. The book will be hitting the shelves in mid-2025.

Image: 李梅樹 《小憩之女》 Li Mei-shu, Lady Resting in the Garden, National Taiwan Museum of Fine arts. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons